Fallen Feathers
by Imhilien
Summary: The scene in the art gallery in the season three finale goes a bit differently for Chloe and Lucifer. Chloe thinks there's a lot of things the police academy didn't train her for. She won't tell them, though.


I recently started watching Lucifer on DVD and became a big fan. After getting to that season three finale, I gibbered a bit and had to write my own variation of Chloe Finding Out. Enjoy.

The gunshot from Pierces' goon hits Chloe in the chest and even though she has a top of the line bullet-proof vest on, she's propelled backwards, her breath knocked out of her.

_I thought I Ioved you, Pierce_, she thinks with regret. But she couldn't walk away and let Lucifer die.

"No, no, Detective," Lucifer says in horror and catches her as she falls, sitting on the ground with her and cradling her head against his chest. She hears him muttering in panic that this can't be happening.

_I'm fine_, she thinks. But perhaps for now it's best to play dead.

Then Chloe's blood ran cold when she heard in the distance Pierce saying in a grim voice, "Finish it… finish it!"

_I thought I Ioved you, Pierce…_

Lucifer yelled, "No!" in a terrible voice and then to Chloe's surprise she heard a snapping sound. She blinked and saw vast, white wings surround her and his front protectively.

_Wings… angel wings? Lucifer, oh god no… he's the Devil!_

She can't ignore the evidence of wings right before her eyes.

Panic-stricken thoughts run through Chloe's mind. Her partner is the real Lucifer – has she damned her immortal soul? No, maybe she's already sold her soul. She could still die here and then she's going straight to hell. Never see her daughter again.

A scream starts to build up inside her but then bullets start firing at them, at the… wings… and then she hears Lucifer crying out in agony when multiple bullets hit the wings, hurting them. She smells lacerated feathers and blood, his blood and it's like cold water being thrown at her face.

No matter what he is, right now, Lucifer is trying to keep her safe from harm… and if he can bleed, he can die. Can an angel die? He drives her up the wall most days, but the thought of never again hearing that teasing voice of his say, "Detective", horrifies her on a deep level too.

Her world has been turned upside down and thoughts keep tumbling through her head as the guns keep firing, but she grabs on to one thought, holds it tightly as Lucifer holds on to her.

Lucifer is not evil incarnate. He can't be. Annoying, yes, like a cat that sits on your best chair and expects to be petted and adored, but not evil. The cop instinct inside her that she trusts says that. She'll have to process it all later. If there's a later.

She hears Lucifer cry out in pain again then gather her close in warm arms. There's the sound of large wings and then they're ascending, fast.

_They didn't cover this situation in the police academy_, Chloe thinks groggily and passes out.

When she comes to, she's on a rooftop with the warmth of the sun on her face. Opening her eyes, she silently reveals to Lucifer that she had her bullet-proof vest on all the time.

Lucifer stares down anxiously at her. Like a partner would, someone who cares.

"What happened?" she asks nevertheless. She can't see any evil in his face, even though she looks carefully. Where's his wings?

"You're safe," he replies softly. "That's all that matters."

"We need to find Pierce," she says grimly. _Concentrate_, she thought. Pierce is an evil that can't be let back out on the world.

Chloe almost feels the temperature drop around Lucifer as he draws back from her. She hears the snap of wings again but when she turns around to look, he's gone.

She carefully stood up and spoke on the phone to her ex-husband, explaining that she's fine, much to his relief.

Afterward, Chloe looked around the rooftop she was on. Something white in the distance fluttered and caught her eye. She walked over quickly with a frown to investigate. Its wire netting with all of these long, white feathers caught up in it. Feathers covered in blood. His blood… he must be in pain right now.

A gust of wind loosens a feather and it's somehow blown through the air to fall limply at her feet. With a lump in her throat, Chloe bends to pick it up. To her surprise, the feather glows with a soft, shimmering light at her touch before winking out. She tucked the feather carefully in her grey jacket as if it was something precious.

She hears the sound of rapid gunfire and paled, before hurrying to find the way back downstairs.

Back down in the art gallery, Chloe saw Lucifer standing with his back to her by the corpse of Pierce, her ex-boss and one-time fiancée.

There's more broken and bloodied feathers scattered over the floor but where are Lucifer's wings?

"Wings, your wings... it's all true," she said rapidly, knowing that some of her shock is starting to set in now. "They shot your wings, you were hurt. What happened to them?"

There's a note of panic in her voice now but she doesn't care.

As if her words bring them forth, Lucifer makes a pained sound and then large white wings promptly unfurl themselves from his back. Wings that are covered in blood, damaged here and there from the bullets. Chloe almost bit her lower lip.

He staggered and dropped to his knees, the wings draping pathetically over his back and the floor like that of a stunned bird that's not sure what to do. She hears him gasps for breath.

"Detective," he rasps and his voice sounds pained, as if he's expecting her to scream and run away.

Chloe sees him bring a hand up to his face to rub it and then sees his hand freeze in the process.

She hears him swear under his breath.

She frowns… there seems to be something odd about his head from what she can see from the back.

"I'm… wearing my other face. I won't blame you if you run," he continued, sounding resigned this time. He coughed and it sounded bad to Chloe's ears.

Chloe made a _tsk-ing_ sound and hurried over to stand in front of him. One strange thing at a time.

"I see crime scenes all the time," she said sternly. "You're hurt and I've got to get you out of here before-"

She looked down and saw a face, no, a head that looked like something out of a nightmare looking up at her. Like someone who had been in a fire, a bad one.

Chloe's eyes widened in horror and her hand came up to cover her mouth in shock.

At that, she saw a tear run down Lucifer's face, then another. His eyes… she realised that they were the same warm, dark eyes as before but now they were full of distress and shame. Shame at having frightened her.

Not the actions of someone evil. She didn't think she could have made him cry.

Chloe gulped but kneeled down before him.

"Does that hurt? Where does it hurt," she said gently, reaching out with a hand to carefully touch a ruined cheek. She might be damned, but what was one more damnation in her ledger now.

"Detective?" he said in surprise, his confused gaze searching her face.

His face rippled under her fingers and then transformed back into his darkly handsome features.

"Your face… it just changed back to, um, normal," she said slowly and she looked down at her hand in puzzlement.

"They didn't teach that at the academy, either," she mumbled.

Lucifer reached up to touch his face, eyebrows raising when he felt smooth skin under his fingers. His wings fluttered for a moment in response.

"You surprise me, Detective," he said cautiously, but there was a look of hope in his dark eyes.

Chloe took a deep breath.

"Look, this will be a lot for me to process with some therapy – all right, lots of therapy, but you're my partner and you just saved me and I'm not turning my back on someone I care about," she said firmly. "I don't remember selling my soul to you either… I didn't, did I?" she added doubtfully.

"What would I do with your soul, Detective? Stick it on a mantelpiece and dust it occasionally?" Lucifer said waspishly. "I don't even like dusting, especially before a party."

He sounded so annoyed that a giggle escaped Chloe despite herself. She imagined Lucifer rushing around Lux with a feather duster and a harried expression, horrified that some VIP guest might see some actual dust… Maze smirking in the background all the while.

Wait, that meant that Maze was… no, don't go there right now.

"Besides," Lucifer said quietly, "a soul shining like yours should stay just where it is."

They both heard the sounds of sirens in the distance.

"I am going to stand up now and not bloody fall over," Lucifer announced.

He grimaced and then as Chloe watched, his wings somehow folded themselves up and vanished. She peered around his side.

"How do they do that?" she said in fascination. "Do they go into some sort of pocket dimension?"

"You've been watching too many of your mother's films," he grumbled but there was a smile lurking on his face.

"Ow," he said as he stood up, Chloe trying not to hover.

"It will be fun trying to explain those feathers," Lucifer said glumly.

Chloe thought quickly.

"We'll say it was part of some… modern art installation that got knocked over."

"Art installation?"

Lucifer shook his head. "I'll need to go back to Lux… call Linda and ask her to come over with her medical bag of tricks."

Chloe's mouth opened in shock.

"Linda knows? She knew before me?"

"Well, you do end up telling your therapist everything…"

Chloe shook her head as they made their quick and careful way to the car. LA, what a place.

FINIS


End file.
